St. Johnstone vs Celtic. Scottish Premiership.
McDiarmid ParkAttendance6,242.
Monday 4 February 2019 00:03, UK
Two late strikes saw Celtic restore their six-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a hard-earned 2-0 win at St Johnstone on Sunday.
James Forrest, who later had to hobble off with a hamstring injury, finally made the breakthrough with just 12 minutes to go, before substitute Timothy Weah sealed the win in the final minute.
And despite Kristoffer Ajer's injury-time red card, the champions held on to stay six points ahead of second-placed Rangers, while the Saints remain sixth in the table.
The home team had struggled to create many meaningful openings in their 2-0 defeat at Celtic in midweek, but they were almost ahead within just five minutes.
However, faced with just Scott Bain to beat, Matty Kennedy shot too close to the Celtic 'keeper and thereafter the visitors took control.
The closest Celtic came to making a first-half breakthrough was just before the quarter-hour mark when Jason Kerr appeared to catch Oliver Burke in the box, only for referee William Collum to wrongly decide the St Johnstone defender had got the ball.
Brendan Rodgers' side moved up a gear in the second period, only to find Zander Clark in inspired form between the posts, with the Saints No 1 making a succession of impressive stops to keep the scoreline goalless.
But just as St Johnstone's fans were starting to believe their team could earn yet another clean sheet, Scott Tanser lost concentration at the far post, allowing Forrest to nip in and touch home Weah's cross from the left.
It was Weah who wrapped up proceedings late on after St Johnstone lost the ball from their own corner, allowing Callum McGregor to break upfield and set up the on-loan PSG forward for a simple tap in.
The champions' day may have been spoiled when Ajer was given a straight red after losing possession to Callum Hendry - son of former Scotland defender Colin - and pulling the substitute back as he broke clear on goal.
But their victory did mean Rodgers has now won 75 of his first 100 league games in charge of Celtic, matching the record of the legendary Jock Stein.
The Saints shot stopper enjoyed a relatively uneventful first 45 minutes at McDiarmid Park, before being called into action on numerous occasions after the interval.
No 'keeper has made more saves or kept more clean sheets than Clark this season and for a while in Perth, it looked like he was on course for a 12th shut-out in the league and 16th in all competitions.
Clark made a succession of outstanding stops to deny the champions, before eventually being beaten by James Forrest and Timothy Weah's late efforts, not that that there was anything he could do to those two goals.
Celtic take on Hibernian at Celtic Park, while St Johnstone travel to Hamilton, with both Scottish Premiership games taking place on Wednesday night.
